Chapter 5 Legacy

Alex
July 22nd, 2017
10:14 AM
Mediterranean Islands
Mediterranean Sea

Back on the boat, Max drives it on the water again and I spot another arrow onboard pointing in the direction it guides us to. As Max's navigator, I tell her to turn left around the rear of the island. Taking us to the entrance of a small cavern through the cliffside where the boat can drive in.

"Mm, giant gate," I said.

"That's a good sign," said Max.

Into the cave, still, on the waters, there was another stairwell that would take us up outside. Back on the green land. The arrow certainly wanted us to go here if I'm the greatest navigation system we've got. There was also an arrow built below the stairs to confirm the righteous path.

"Secret cave, stairs, this looks promising," said Max.
Following the trail of arrows, Max docks the boat next to the stairs and we walk upon them. I sure hope we wouldn't be made castaways here like EJ's crew were during their expedition.

"You gotta admit," I said. "This is pretty cool."

"What?" Max thought. "Climbing up these stairs?"

"Yes, climbing these stairs on a giant secret knight island. I mean, c'mon."

"Huh, right."

"Well, I think it's pretty damn cool."

When we're up to the steps, we see an infrastructure in front of us that looked knight-made. Had to be a small base for Arthur and his knights of the order. That arrow back there was built for a reason.

"Wowser," said Max. "Arthur wasn't much for subtlety or understatement, was he?"

"Well, he had the money," I said. "If you've got it, flaunt it, right? So…does this qualify as 'the most elaborate place we've seen yet?'"

"It's up there."

"C'mon, let's get a closer look."

Whether I should be surprised or not, the minute we walk closer to the entrance is the minute we find out its barricaded by rocks and boulder. Just like every other entrance, we would need to get through. Why am I not surprised at all?

"Oh, look," said Max. "The main entrance is blocked by debris. Again."

"Well," I said. "I guess Arthur's builders clearly didn't take thousands of years of erosion into account."

"Clearly."

"Gonna need to find another way around."

There was a small opening on the right side of the structure. Max and I crawl under it and lift some wood with our hands blocking the opening. We take turns lifting and prone under. Once we were through, more the infrastructure was seen on the other side. Has to be a way in from here.

"What do you suppose this place was?" I asked.

"These arches remind me of the Saint Loomis Cathedral," said Max. "But I don't know."

I spot a rope bridge built between a gap above us. We could get up to it with a rope ladder just ahead of us.

"Oh," I said. "Rope bridge up there."

"Yes," said Max. "It is."

Both of us walk to the ladder and Max gives my boost upward so I could reach it. Since only half of the ladder was hanging. I start climbing up to the platform where the bridge is connected.

"See what you can find up there," requested Max.

"You got it," I replied.

Once I'm up, I observe what's on the other side for recon. Taking the best analysis of what catches my face.

"Well?" Max wondered.

"There's a path," I said. "But I don't see another way up yet. Hold on."

I walk on the bridge to cross to the other side and find a way for Max to get up here. But since this thousand-year-old bridge wasn't stable enough for my wait, I felt the boards creaking and eventually shatter. I make a run for the other side right before the bridge breaks in half and I jump for the one side of the bridge colliding against the cliffside I was walking to. Grasping onto the broken bridge with my best reflex.

"Alex!" Max shouted.

"Whoa!" I jumped.

"You okay?!"

"At least I'm on the other side!"

I climb up the broken bridge and mantle over the edge. Getting my feet to stand on the other ground I walked to before the bridge broke.

"Okay," I said. Catching my breath. "Still need to get you up here. Hang tight."

I leave Max behind to find something for her to climb up on so she can get up here. Then I see something that can get her up here and run to it.

Max
July 22nd, 2017
10:20 AM
Mediterranean Sea
Mediterranean Islands

"Alex, anything?" I called my cousin.

"Alex, hey! You still there?! God dammit. Well, let's see here. I ruined my relationship. Drove my best friends and family away. Got three psychos and their army after me. And now my cousin's gone missing. But on the bright side, there's no one around to tell me I'm an idiot."

All idiocrasy aside, I climb up the broken side of the rope bridge long enough for me to reach. I vault over the platform I had boosted Alex up to. Then see a way around the crossing where Alex ran off too. I know Alex must still be over there somewhere expecting me to be still on the low ground and waiting for her to bring what I needed to get up there, but whatever reason she could hear or answer me when I called to her, I couldn't wait.

"Alright, Alex," I said. "Where are ya?"

When I walk up and get around to Alex's ground, I see her pushing a crate to the edge. Must be what she was trying to get for me to up here. She stopped pushing once she saw me.

"You're already up here?" Alex asked.

"Where were you?" I asked.

"Finding a way to get you up here! Alright, just come along then. Everything alright?"

"Yeah, everything's fine. Let's keep going."

"Okay."

Finding a way inside the compound, we caught ourselves another glamorous view of the seaside on this island. Seem I can't get enough views of the ocean these days. Whether it'd be the Pacific at the Arcadia Bay Lighthouse or the Mediterranean here. Alex whistled.

"Nice view," she said.

"You didn't hear me?" I asked.

"When?"

"Back there. I called out to you."

"Didn't hear you. Why, were you worried?"

"I was worried you got distracted."

"Oh, I'm distracted now."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing. Shall we?"

"Yeah, let's."

On course with finding a way into the Arthur base, we could see narrow drops below us where sand is being washed up by the seawater. Don't even want to think about drops after what people like Kate tried to do and what Fernando actually did do. If we were anywhere near close to finding a hidden entrance, there was another drop down a cistern where statues of Arthur and his knights of Loomis, such as Lancelot and Percival, were built.

"That is the second biggest cistern I've ever seen," I said.

"Wait," said Alex. "Where was first biggest?"

"I'll tell you later. C'mon, let's get down there."

The best way we were going to get down the cistern was with our climbing gear we were holding. That which were a rope to hook onto and slide down with. Alex and I hooked our rope on the ledges and slid down with our ropes until our feet were at the bottom of the cistern. If anything, I have slid down ropes before. Back on that freeway during the battle of Portland.

Once we were deep down below the cistern, we unhooked our ropes and found a way inside. A corridor is right in front of us wide open and unblocked. Unlike the corridor behind us blocked by debris. Which was the same corridor we tried entering through earlier. Alex enjoyed the view of the statues built around us.

"Jesus," she said. "Look at this place."

There were some open rooms to explore before entering the main corridor. I walk inside on room as Alex follows and see some old junk stashed around. Junk that didn't look like it belonged to Arthur, but perhaps EJ's crew through my familiarity.

"Wowser," I said. "What is all this?"

Most of the junk I was seeing was some unused supplies stashed in crates and bags. Around and on an old table. Most of it ransacked by the looks of it. Even a rusted wagon with a broken wheel carrying some cargo.

"Lots of supplies in here," I said. "Tools, seeds…"

"Ah, provisions," said Alex. "Probably past their sell-by date."

The two of us walk inside another room and find a small model like city displayed on a table with an architectural print laid on a hassle. By the looks of it, someone was constructing a town in here. I take peek at the print of building with its architectural drawings.

"Alex, look," I said.

"Hey," said Alex. "Uh, maybe they were planning a massive theme park?"

"Knight Land."

"Ha, ha."

I turn behind me to see the diorama model on the table. Collecting dust and cobwebs since it had been unused in centuries or years.

"Alex, check out this diorama," I tell her.

"Uh, that looks like a city street," said Alex. "You think they actually built all this stuff?"

"With these guys, I don't know anymore."

There was even a little statue of one of the Herd of Whales member Christoph Carter lying around the diorama. The architecture of the model town didn't look Arthurian. Perhaps centuries older around Ezra's time. That's if Ezra Sr. was once on this island too before his son EJ.

Other blueprints of the town were lying around as well. Or should I call them brown-prints since they weren't colored blue? There were even murals carved into the walls as well. One mural was carved into an image of Arthur's ship attacking a Saxon ship. The Prydwen as Arthur's ship was called.

"Alex, check it out," I said. "It's Arthur's ship."

"The Prydwen," laughed Alex.

"Yeah, attacking the Saxons."

"Its how it all started."

The mural I see is of Arthur and Lancelot holding a paper with their knights of Loomis at the Round Table. Announcing their code.

"Arthur and Lancelot," I said. "Holding court over their knights."

"It looks like they're writing their code of conduct," said Alex.

"May the herd guide us all."

The next mural I find is of the Herd of Whales sigils that had marked Ezra's herd. That couldn't be right. Unless it had marked the Knights of Loomis too?

"Look, herd sigils," I said.

"All gathered around Ezra," said Alex. "Or Arthur or…hold on. Max, this is – this is the story of the founding of Meridian Prime. I think those sigils once belonged to Arthur's party as well. So, what the hell is this place?"

"A staging ground of some kind."

"Oh my God, it's where they planned Meridian Prime."

"Question still stands. Did they actually go through with it?"

"Pfft, I mean they must have. Look at all this. You don't commit to your entire life to something just to walk away from it at the end."

"Yeah, well things don't always go as planned."

Alex and I step out of the room of the staging ground to return on course to the central corridor. If my instincts are correct, the Time Shard was nearing our clutches.

It was incredible to believe how much a thousand-year-old legacy was left behind on this spot of sand and grass. Arthur's legacy, Ezra's legacy, Joanna's legacy, and ironically our legacy. To believe how much I've had in common with this lineage between the Prescotts and Caulfields. According to everything I've learned on this journey to Meridian Prime and the Ark of Genesis held within.

Upon entry across the corridor, there was a big wooden door with a tile sticking out in front. Seemed like it could open the door up front?

"Hmm," I said.

I step on the tile and viola. The door was predictably opening.

"Here we go," said Alex.

And then the door unpredictably froze. Only opening a foot from its broken mechanism. Then the door slammed shut.

"Ah, crap," I said. "Mechanism's busted or something."

"Oh, no, no, no," said Alex. "One way or another, we're getting in. Let's just lift it together, alright?"

"Okay."

Together we lifted the door open vigorously as it was heavier than any doors we had to lift open. My muscles were weakening the longer I held it open. I had to think about the shard that could be behind here no matter how much more I can think about my back. As always, the drill remains the same. Take turns lifting it. Take turns crawling under.

As soon as we were through, we had entered a strange chamber of some kind. A chamber with balls and symbols attached to the walls and a wheel built in the center. I had an itchy feeling my instincts weren't failing and rather thriving to succession to getting that Time Shard. The shard itself had to be here. And I'm betting indubitably that solving this puzzle will get me to it.

"Whoa," I said.

"Looks like we've got another trial," said Alex.

"It sure looks like it."

I walk to the center of the puzzle where the wheel had stood to investigate. The wheel itself seemed to be standing on what appeared to be an island made of concrete. Turning the wheel in front of me was perhaps the only provoking start I was gonna get to solving the puzzle and the shard.

"Let's see what these do," I said.

I turn the wheel once and a light ray is lit on the wall where the balls are built. Not only do the balls rotate around the wall clockwise or counterclockwise, but a symbol is shadowed on the light ray too. Must be part of the puzzle.

"Some impressive engineering here," said Alex.

"The symbols on the spheres don't match the ones in the light," I said.

This thousand-year-old engineering was more complex than it looked. I was turning two spheres at once. One sphere had the symbol the shadow was marking and the other sphere was divided into a lighter and darker shade. If I could match the rays with the spheres at once, I can solve the puzzle. There was a mechanism on the wall where I can lock the spheres in and turn them around to match the puzzle.

As soon as the first phase of the puzzle was solved, objects were rising out of the ground. Four statues of four Knights of Loomis had risen in front of us.

"What is that?" I asked.

"Whoa, look," said Alex.

"Statues."

"Loomis knights."

"There's Percival…Gawain…Tristan and I can't remember that guy's name."

I get back on the wheel and solve the next piece of the puzzle. Moving the spheres back and forth, rotating them to the correct place, and eventually lining them with the light rays and shadows. Then phase two of the puzzle is solved. Then four more statues rise behind us.

"Got it," I said.

"Here we go again," said Alex.

"Who've we got?"

"Let's see…Galahad, Lionel, Gareth, and…Bedivere."

"Eight out of twelve."

The last phase of the puzzle was the trickiest. When turning the wheel, the sphere would rotate with the trajectory and it would take more than positioning them with a turning mechanism. I would need to use the mechanisms to rotate them to where I can time the rotations so they can match the shadows when they turn. After passing the complexity, I solve the last phase of the puzzle and the last few statues rise around the room. My cousin and I laugh at our achievement.

"And the last of our crew," said Alex. "Lamorak, Bors, and Lancelot.

"Alex, look."

After every statue circling the room had risen, the wheel opened a small slot in the middle. One that fit the Eon Codex. I knew what I needed to do next.

"I guess this where the codex comes in again," I said.

"Whoa, whoa," said Alex. "Wait a minute. That's only eleven knights."

"We're missing our star knight."

"Uh-huh. It's kinda weird. Unless that slot for the codex has anything to do with it."

I plug the codex into the slot and then the whole room goes dark like a blackout. Then suddenly, a statue of King Arthur himself rose right in front of us. Scaled bigger and wider than the other statues and then the statue itself opened some kind of energy field. A portal-like rift making way for something or someone exiting the rift itself. A tall figure in ancient armor making an entrance with the right itself. The figure's armor was glowing green like a leprechaun and I knew exactly who this figure was.
As soon as the rift closed, the figure unmasked itself with his mechanical helmet. Revealing himself to be none other than the butcher of Triple 4 himself. An old enemy who had orchestrated the invasion of Portland with Derrick Crosby. Chronos the god of time.

"Holy wowser," I murmured.